Roku Developer Program

[stephenhawk]

I recently uploaded and published a new private channel and when I add it to a roku account it doesn't appear in the channel list on the Roku box. Yet the channel details page in my developer account shows the correct number of installed accounts. This is the first time I've ever had this issue - not being able to access a published channel. Any thoughts? The private channel vanity code is: bcctrokutest

[RokuJoel]

There is a 61 minute cache refresh timeout that will sometimes delay the update of your channel to the device, it will eventually be available. Of course, you need to force the device to update by going to Settings, System Update, check for update. Make sure also that you are logged in to the correct account on owner.roku.com when you add the channel.

- Joel

[stephenhawk]

Hey Joel,

I've actually been experiencing this issue for a couple day now. I've done all of the above, updated system settings and confirmed correct roku accounts. Not to mention tried on multiple accounts and even tried creating a totally new channel as well. But still have the same issue. Could there be an issue with the package? Even though it was able to be published, that would keep it from working? Again the vanity code to test is bcctrokutest

Steve

[TheEndless]

FWIW, it won't install for me, either. Is it possible that you set the firmware requirement too high?

[RokuJoel]

Here is a suggestion I believe will help to resolve this:

When zipping your channel be certain to exclude all hidden and system files, for exmaple .DS_Store files.

You can do this either in the Makefile or by modifying App.mk

Also, FYI you can't use HTTP URL's in the manifest file, only local references are allowed, for example, pkg:/images/myfile.jpg

- Joel

[stephenhawk]

Hey Joel,

Thanks for your help, turned out it was the hard-coded links in the manifest file.

Steve

[JayMa]

Hello. I just wanted to add something to this old topic, in case it may help others. My channel wouldn't install properly. It would show that it added it when doing the system update, but, when going to the channel list, it didn't show. If I unplugged and then plugged back in my ROKU box, it would then show in the channel list. I thought it was something "quirky" that just my ROKU box was doing, as it is old and sometimes acts a little "quirky", lol. I could test my channel after unplugging/replugging and everything worked and looked fine, so, I submitted it to ROKU. It was rejected for "Channel does not install when added", lol... Whaddaya know... it wasn't my "quirky" box afterall!! lol After tinkering with it another day, I realized what the problem was... I had originally used PNG's with my manifest, but changed them to JPG's for optimization. I changed the images in the image folder, but, did not go in the manifest to change the extensions to .jpg, lol, silly me! However, I did not catch the mistake, in my rush, because when testing my channel on my ROKU, all the images worked! I don't understand how they worked, but they did. If someone could explain that to me, I would be grateful... it is working badly on my curious mind! All I can figure is that some kind of caching somewhere was still picking up the old PNG's I had originally linked to?! Any way... sorry for the long story, lol, but, I figured my stupidity could help someone else. Live and learn, right?!

[belltown]

"JayMa" wrote:
I had originally used PNG's with my manifest, but changed them to JPG's for optimization. I changed the images in the image folder, but, did not go in the manifest to change the extensions to .jpg, lol, silly me! However, I did not catch the mistake, in my rush, because when testing my channel on my ROKU, all the images worked! I don't understand how they worked, but they did. If someone could explain that to me, I would be grateful... it is working badly on my curious mind!

One possibility is that you did not delete the PNG images from your .zip file, so your channel worked when side-loaded because it still had access to those images from the .zip file even though you had deleted them from your image folder.

Tip: Before submitting a package, delete your channel's .zip file then re-zip everything so your .zip file reflects the actual contents of your channel's directories, then complete your final pre-submission testing.

[JayMa]

"belltown" wrote:
One possibility is that you did not delete the PNG images from your .zip file, so your channel worked when side-loaded because it still had access to those images from the .zip file even though you had deleted them from your image folder.

Tip: Before submitting a package, delete your channel's .zip file then re-zip everything so your .zip file reflects the actual contents of your channel's directories, then complete your final pre-submission testing.

Thanks for replying. I deleted and re-zipped each time. That's mainly what caused my confusion on how they would still be showing. I guess, for now, the mystery lives on! lol I'm just glad it finally installed 😉

[destruk]

might consider rebooting the roku - it could be caching images.